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Hepatitis C doctor appeals sentence

Peters was sentenced to 14 years in jail for infecting women with hepatitis C.

ABC TV

A former Melbourne anaesthetist who infected more than 50 women with hepatitis C has launched a bid to appeal against his 14-year jail sentence.

James Latham Peters, 63, was sentenced to 14 years in jail, with a non-parole period of ten years, after pleading guilty in the Victorian Supreme Court to 55 counts of negligently causing serious injury.

Peters was a hepatitis C carrier and was addicted to the pain killer Fentanyl.

He spread the potentially fatal disease by injecting himself with the drug and then using the same needles on his patients.

Peters has lodged an application for leave to appeal his sentence with the Court of Appeal.

Lawyer Julie Clayton, who represented some of the victims, says the appeal will cause further anguish for her clients.

"We're disappointed that this appeal is going ahead," she said.

"The women are really looking for some closure around this and obviously every time that it is in the media it re-traumatises them and any time that there's any court action it forces them to revisit what's gone on."